The 22-year-old Chelsea frontman is battling his way back to fitness after being diagnosed with viral meningitis and remains a doubt for the tournament, which gets under way next week.

However, he is back in training and doing well, and Pearce is hopeful he will be ready to face Senegal in the Great Britain side's first group game.

Pearce said: "He looks very good, to be fair. Obviously, we are hoping to play him in some part of the game tomorrow, and really make a final judgment call at that stage.

"But everything we have asked of him at the moment, he's done. He's come through that okay.

"He has been blowing on occasions when he has done, but I think the game from a physical point of view, will tell us quite a lot."

Pearce's men face gold medal favourites Brazil at Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium knowing their own credentials will be put to the test, and that they are likely to be some way behind the South Americans in terms of preparation.

Pearce added: "We know we are not where we want to be at the moment. We are in this build-up process and the game and the fitness the game will give us will be a fantastic pointer to where we actually are at this moment in time.

"As I said to them when they first walked through the door, we need to be peaking for the Senegal game and we have to accept that we are going to get fitter and stronger day by day.

"We want to bring them to the boil around the Senegal game and beyond that."